Tokyo Art Meeting (III)Art & Music--Search for New Synesthesia

Search for New Synesthesia: Music and the visual arts have shared a close relationship with each other over the course of their evolution. At the beginning of the twentieth century Wassily Kandinsky strove to create a form of comprehensive art that would arouse a variety of sensations, while Paul Klee attempted to create images through the accurate depiction of musical notation. Later, during the 1960s, John Cage and others produced experimental works that explored the rich sensual domain and widened the range of expression made possible through the crossover of the audio and the visual.

Today, the development of digital technology has made it possible to break an image down into pixels that can be processed as symbols or numerical values; sound can also be composed visually on a PC display, so it can be said that in their creative processes, art and music have drawn closer to each other. Artists today are able to manipulate video, images and sound equally on a single computer, they possess a closely-knit, composite sense that can be described as a 'new synesthesia,' allowing them to create diverse expressions.

We have invited composer, Ryuichi Sakamoto, in the role of general advisor for this exhibition, in which we will introduce various works deriving from the intersection and coordination of these two forms of expression, while questioning the fundamental meaning of the acts of 'looking' and 'listening' in 'our times'.

Statement by Ryuichi Sakamoto: Art and music are considered different genres. However, surely there is art that is created through sound, just as there is music that is created visually. Also there are forms of expression that cannot be described as being either art or music and those that can be described as being both. By exploring the synesthesia of art and music, or the boundary between the two, we may be able to catch a glimpse of not only the origin of mankind's artistic expression, but also it's future. That is what I hope to achieve through this exhibition.

Ryuichi Sakamoto (General Advisor)

Highlights: We welcome the world-famous composer, Ryuichi Sakamoto, in the role of general advisor for this exhibition which will examine the new relationship that exists between music and art in the present day. It will present richly individualistic works that blend 'seeing' and 'listening', in a large-scale exhibition space.

Ryuichi Sakamoto has worked in collaboration with the internationally acclaimed sound designer, Seigen Ono, and one of the founding members of Dumb Type, Shiro Takatani, to produce two new installations. One, entitled silence spins, was inspired by the traditional Japanese tea-ceremony room in which one is able to hear the infinite universe, and the other, collapsed, utilizes two pianos and a laser.

It will include the first exhibit in Japan of numerous diverse works with a rich international flavor by contemporary artists active on the world art scene, including Florian Hecker's three-dimensional sonic installations, Christine Ödlund's music and scores that are derived from the warning signs produced by plants, and many others.

It will not confine itself to the present day, but will also look back over history, examining the way that artists and musicians have explored the relationship that exists between music and the visual arts, including Wassily Kandinsky and Paul Klee's paintings, or John Cage and Toru Takemitsu's graphic notation.

Adult: 1,100yen (880yen) University & College student, over 65yrs old: 850yen (680yen) High school & Junior high school student: 550yen (440yen) Free for Elementary students and under *( ) price for a group, over 20 people *Free entry to MOT collection for exhibition ticket holder

Related Programs:

An opening Live by alva noto (Carsten Nicolai) univrs- uniscope version | Oct. 28 (Sun)*Door opens at 17:00- / Live starts at 18:00- **Pre booking tickets are SOLD OUT for this event. Venue: Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo

Tokyo Culture Creation Project : Tokyo Culture Creation Project, organized by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government and the Tokyo Metropolitan Foundation for History and Culture in cooperation with arts organizations and NPOs, aims to establish Tokyo as a city of global cultural creativity. The project facilitates involvement of a larger number of people in creation of new culture, by building regional bases for culture creation across the city and offering opportunities for creative experiences to children and young people. Moreover, it creates and globally disseminates new Tokyo culture through organizing international festivals and other diverse events.